Hand your average molder a part and he or she will immediately begin turning it over in their hands, using touch and sight to ascertain key facts like: gate(s) location(s), parting line, material used and more, as they start to visualize the mold that made it and seek out any cosmetic defects. Using this perfunctory once over, most molders can pretty accurately assess the relative challenge to molding any given part, or think about how they might have done things differently.

The molders also know that the story the part is telling their hands and eyes might be incomplete or misleading — many parts hold secrets closely and offer fibs or misdirection’s about their manufacturing process.

What story about your shop’s capabilities would some of the most-challenging parts it’s molded tell? What hidden truths would the average molder miss by inspecting the part without knowing its full story (or all your capabilities)? Is there another way to skin that particular molding cat that an injection colleague might spot that your team missed?

In appreciation of the myriad design, performance and manufacturing challenges that injection molding can overcome, and as a showcase for the extraordinary creativity and skill that molders apply to the everyday engineering challenges they’re presented, Plastics Technology magazine is once again acknowledging molding’s mavens with the Hot Shots Injection Molded parts competition.

This year the finalists and eventual honorees will be acknowledged and recognized for the first time at the PTXPO (March 28-30; Rosemont, Ill.). Launched last year, the PTXPO plastics exhibition drew plastics professionals from the Chicagoland area and beyond to see leading edge equipment in action and network with industry professionals.

The Hot Shots parts competition is a chance for your company to ride the hype coattails of this new and growing trade show, and give your colleagues, competitors and customers a chance to assess your molding prowess on the basis of your submitted part. Check out last year’s Hot Shots finalists and the Hot Shots winner to see how you stack up. Did you mold a more challenging part? Enter it in the competition today to show off your capabilities. The deadline to enter is Feb. 3; don’t miss it, enter today.

Enter your molded part today.